Given
by carifoo2001
Summary: Post-Giver, references Gathering Blue. Jonas and Gabe arrive at a village, where syllables in people's names are used to show one's age. JonasxOC. Slash, Shounen-ai, BL, GuyxGuy or whatever you want to call romance between two of the male gender. Beware the cliche.


***cries with happiness* I wrote this so long ago, SOOO LOOONG ago. It was for an English assignment, but after I turned it in I added more, enough to make it too embarrassing to let any teacher see. This was the first time I had ever written slash. Beware, this is a bit cliche, but isn't most everything cliche? **

The Christmas party the village was holding was drawing to a close. The band played one last joyful tune as the villagers headed back to their houses. Julia led her tyke, Ky, and held herself up with a cane as she walked to the edge of the village, by the hill, where she and her two boys lived.

Seeing the absence of her tyke's sled by the door, Julia looked at him accusingly. Ky gave her a sheepish look.

"How many times have I told you not to leave your sled on the top of the hill?" she scolded him. Ky looked down, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, Mum, I forgot again…" He sniffled. Julia sighed.

"Go get it, Ky," she told the tyke. He nodded and obediently started up the hill, shivering a bit inside his jacket.

Julia went inside and found her other son, a two-syllable boy named Nathan, reading a book.

Julia frowned and limped over to her son, pulling the book out of his hands.

"I told you not to leave the Christmas celebration until it was over!" she yelled, giving Nathan a light slap. He scowled at her.

"It was boring!" he retorted.

"Why can't you just find a girl and leave this house?" she shouted.

The door opened. "Mum, there's a tyke and a two-syllable boy that stole my sled," Ky said. "They're blue and asleep."

"What?" Julia whipped around. Ky beckoned her outside. Indeed, there was a two-syllable boy and a tyke on her sons sled, and indeed they were blue. She gasped and went over to them,

limping on her bad leg.

"Nathan! Come out here!" she yelled to her two-syllable son. He obediently came out quickly, hearing the urgent tone in her voice. He ran over to her and the two boys on a sled, helping

her lift the two boys into the house.

0o0o0

Jonas woke up. He was on what felt like a bed. He opened his eyes, momentarily forgetting who he was. When he remembered, he still didn't know where he was. Perhaps he was in a memory… no. They certainly were almost completely gone, except for tiny wisps that were hard to look at. They all went back to the community.

So… where was he?

A door opened, and a woman with startlingly red hair that reminded him of Fiona walked in. She was limping, and holding herself up with a stick. Her leg appeared to be twisted. She smiled when she saw that he was awake.

"You have beautiful blue eyes," she said kindly. "So does your tyke."

"Where am I?" Jonas asked.

"You're in my house, at the edge of the village," she replied. "My tyke, Ky, found you at the bottom of the hill on his sled."

"Oh…" He remembered climbing onto a sled and going down that large hill.

"What's your name?" she asked. Jonas looked down at his tunic, and found that he was not wearing his tunic, so there was no nametag. He was wearing a two-piece tunic… the top was

blue and the bottom was brown.

"Jonas," he replied. He coughed, and realized that he felt very hot. Julia limped over to where he was, and put a damp cloth, that he didn't notice her holding before, on his forehead. The cool

cloth was very soothing.

"I'm Julia," the woman said.

"Wait, where is Gabriel?" Jonas suddenly sat up, panicking.

"Your little tyke is in the other room. You two are both very lucky to be alive," she replied. "Wait a second… that name. Gabriel has three syllables, but he's only a tyke."

"…Why does it matter?" Jonas inquired, frowning.

"Tykes have one syllable names," she started to explain. "When they're older they get a syllable added to their names, when they become adults, they get another, and they get their last syllable when they become an elder."

"Oh. You can just call him Gabe, then," Jonas said, understanding that it would make the people that lived in the village uncomfortable. Julia smiled.

Suddenly, two boys ran in. One looked to be just a Six, and the other a little older than Jonas.

"He's awake!" the little boy Julia called a tyke exclaimed. He ran over to Jonas. "Hi!"

"Hello," Jonas said, smiling.

"I'm Ky!" he shouted happily. He pointed to the boy behind him. "That's Nathan!" The boy called Nathan was studying him with pale, almost colorless eyes, much different from his mother's and brother's soft brown ones. It was making Jonas feel uncomfortable.

"What are we going to do with him?" Nathan asked his mother, still looking at Jonas. He asked the question in such a way that made it seem like Nathan was talking about a primitive being; something that can be disposed of.

"Nathan!" Julia slapped his arm. "Don't be so disrespectful! Apologize!"

Nathan groaned. "Sorry," he said reluctantly.

"I accept your apology, Nathan," Jonas automatically said in a professional tone.

0o0o0

When Jonas and Gabe were finally nursed back to health, they were sent to the council.

"Where did you come from?" an Old man with broken arms named Leonardo asked. Jonas was surrounded by a few people, most were Old, and others were regular adults, about his mother and father's age, but they all had physical disabilities. Leonardo seemed to be the leader.

Jonas thought for a second. "I came from very far away. It took a very long time to get here."

"But where are you from?" a blind man named Christopher asked.

"I came from a community," Jonas started. "Everything was the same. We had no sun, no rain, no snow, and no color."

"But that's not possible!" Zachary, a man with a crippled leg, exclaimed.

"I've heard of something like it, before," Leonardo mused. "The Land with No Color. The 'perfect' society."

Jonas nodded. "I escaped, along with Gabe." He ruffled the boy's hair. Gabe was, strangely, very quiet. He was holding a stick in his small left hand and poking the dirt floor with it.

"Do you want to stay, or leave?" Jeremiah, another blind man, asked.

"I'm going to stay, at least for a little while," Jonas replied without hesitation. The people nodded,

the ones with sight looking at each other.

"We can start building a house for you. You and Gabe can live there," Leonardo said. "What can you do?"

Jonas hesitated. "I…"

Leonardo sighed. "That's alright. You can learn how to hunt with the uninjured men and boys."

Jonas made a puzzled expression. He'd never heard that term before. "...Hunting? What does that mean?"

0o0o0

Nathan didn't understand why he had to teach Jonas how to hunt. It was awful. Jonas didn't know what any of the animals were. He didn't know what a bow was; he didn't know what a knife was.

Nathan was pretty sure it was hopeless, but after two weeks, Jonas could shoot a bow, albeit rather horribly.

"You have to hit the deer, Jonas," Nathan murmured, frustrated.

Jonas sighed. "I know, I know…" He took another arrow and assumed his stance. He started to nock the arrow with his soft, uncalloused fingers, but yet again, he was doing it incorrectly.

Nathan groaned. "No, no, no! You're doing it wrong yet again, moron!" He marched over to the shorter boy and took his hands, guiding them into the correct positions. Jonas bit his lip.

"I apologize for being such a burden to you, Nathan," Jonas said with pure sincerity.

"Hey, I told you to stop with the apologizing." Nathan hid his face, for he was blushing.

0o0o0

Jonas gave Nathan a glance. The slightly older boy was watching him with those pale, accusing, sarcastic, beautiful eyes. Jonas sighed and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. it had been two two months since he'd found the village and started to be taught archery. It shouldn't have taken so long to be taught… And it hadn't. Jonas was guilty of lying. He pretended he was horrible at archery so he could be with Nathan more, because he doubted that Nathan wanted anything to do with him. It didn't make any sense, though. Why did Jonas want to be with Nathan when Nathan was so rude to him?

Jonas shivered, despite wearing an extra layer. The February air was even colder than the December and January and January air. He wondered if it just got colder as the year went on... He wondered if it just got colder and colder throughout the year.

He nocked the arrow and pulled it back with his fingers, remembering how Nathan's fingers would gently guide them, back when he really couldn't shoot.

He looked with his dominant eye, his left eye, up at a tree. A squirrel was, strangely, out of its nest. He aimed it at the place next to the squirrel, and let go. It didn't hit the small rodent, but it almost scared it to death. It made a strange noise and scampered away.

Nathan sighed. "Untalented moron," he muttered, shaking his head. "That squirrel made enough noise to scare everything else away." He walked over to Jonas, looking down at him with those pale eyes, again.

"I apologi—" Nathan stopped him from continuing by leaning down and putting his lips on Jonas'. It was a very strange sensation, and a bit enjoyable, but Jonas didn't know what it was for.

Nathan pulled away, looking at Jonas with a strange expression that Jonas had never seen before, but it seemed familiar, somehow.

"What was that for?" Jonas touched his lips. They were now moist. Nathan's face had turned red, like it occasionally did, and he ran away. Jonas shrugged. If Nathan wouldn't tell him, Julia might. She'd told him what a lot of things were and what they meant. It was probably a gesture to scold him, or something, like lightly slapping his head and calling him a "moron".

0o0o0

Jonas had been taught to hit the door of another's dwelling with his knuckles and wait for someone to open the door for him. He didn't really understand why he couldn't just walk in, but it was just one of those things that the people in the village did.

The boy hit the door with his knuckles a few times. It kind of hurt, but he'd endured worse before so it didn't bother him much.

He could hear the irregular pattern of Julia limping while using a stick to hold part of her weight. She opened the door and smiled when she saw him. "Are you here to pick up Gabe?" she asked.

Jonas nodded. "I apologize for anything Gabe has put you through," he said formally. Julia laughed.

"Oh, and there's also something else," he said as he walked past her into the dwelling. Julia hummed in response. "I need to ask you something."

"Do you need to know what something is, again?" the mother of two asked expectantly.

Jonas nodded. "What is it called when two people make their lips touch each other's?" he asked.

Julia chuckled. "Well, Jonas, that's called a kiss. It's to show your love for another."

Jonas looked puzzled. "Is it uncommon or something? I know that you love Nathan and Ky, and I love Gabe, and I know that all mothers love their children… but I've never seen any 'kissing' before."

Julia smiled. "Oh, Jonas, kissing is only for the special kind of love. The kind of love that two people feel for each other. If you feel that special kind of love for someone, you get butterflies in your stomach when you see them. Just looking at them makes you happy. They're the most important person in the world to you."

Jonas' heart started to beat faster. "Oh."

Gabe and Ky suddenly ran into the room, playing some kind of chasing game. It wasn't a very fair game because Gabe was much younger than Ky. Gabe noticed Jonas and jumped into his arms. "Jonas!" he said almost perfectly. The older boy smiled.

"Julia? Can I leave Gabe here for a little while longer? I need to find someone."

0o0o0

After a few hours, Jonas finally found Nathan, in the woods. Julia had been worried sick because he hadn't come home for dinner.

Before Nathan could notice him, Jonas ran up to him and gave him what he knew was a hug, which was another gesture to express your love, but not as intimate as kissing. Nathan's breath hitched in surprise.

"What are you doing, Clueless?" Nathan asked, trying to keep his cool.

"I'm hugging you, Nathan," Jonas answered obviously.

"...Why?"

Jonas looked into the older boy's pale eyes. "You kissed me."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Nathan retorted.

"Do you love me?" Jonas asked, ignoring the remark. "In the special way?"

Nathan hesitated, but then scowled and pushed Jonas off of him. "Are you kidding? I hate you. You're so damn annoying. You never stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault, you are always so friendly to everyone, you can't even shoot a bow and arrow properly, you are always staring at me, you act like we're friends when really we're not, and… and…"

Jonas couldn't breathe, and his heart was beating faster than normal. He clenched his fists. "I see. I'm glad I know how you feel, now." Before Nathan could stop him, he started to apologize by speaking really fast. "I apologize for being so annoying. I apologize for always apologizing. I also apologize for loving you in the special way when you obviously don't want me to!" Jonas' voice cracked and tears had started to trickle down his face. He took off running.

"Oh my God." For a second, Nathan couldn't move, but then he took off after the younger boy, easily catching up with him. He grabbed Jonas by the arm, but the younger boy tugged it out of his grip. Nathan growled and picked Jonas up. He really wasn't very heavy at all. In fact, he was extremely light. For a second Nathan wondered where Jonas got his food, because he certainly didn't get it from hunting…

Before Nathan could stop, he tripped on a root and ended up landing on top of Jonas. He held himself up by his hands so he wasn't putting all of his weight on the skinny boy.

The two boys looked into each other's eyes. They both were breathing hard from running. When Nathan could talk again, he whispered, "Look, Jonas… The special kind of love? That's meant for a boy and a girl. That's how it's always been. In the village, I've never seen two boys or two girls love each other like that."

"In the community that I lived in," Jonas started, speaking very softly. "There was always a mother and a father in every family unit. There were no spouses of the same gender." Jonas was still breathing very hard, but it wasn't because of the fact that he'd been running, anymore. It was because Nathan was so close, their mouths were almost touching. He could feel the older boy's ragged breath on his dry lips.

Nathan nodded. "That makes sense. Then why…?" He paused. "Why do you love me… and why do I love you?" Jonas' breath hitched, and Nathan leaned down, closing the tiny gap between their mouths.

0o0o0

Jonathan, formerly known as Jonas, trudged back to his house. It had been a long day. He'd been out in the woods with Nathaniel all day, because they had to hide their love from the village, and Nathaniel's mother, Julianna. It was now dusk.

He saw the vague silhouettes of a woman and a man. Even though he had excellent archer's eyesight, because of the darkness, he couldn't see who they were. Curious, he went closer. He could see now that one looked like Julianna, because of her bright red hair. Then, it occurred to Jonathan that he didn't recognize these people, even though he should know everyone in the village.

He made himself noticed, and before he could ask, the woman took the words right out of his mouth. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jonathan," he answered. "What about you two?"

"I'm Asher," the man said, sounding urgent. "She's Fiona, my friend. We're looking for a man named Jonas. We're all in danger."


End file.
